Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 3.djvu/264

 238 BATTLE OF THE ALMA. CHAP. I. Princo Gortscha- kofTs ad- vance Wltll a column of the Vladimir iorps. left, or to speak more exactly, the left of the few men aligning with them, remained altogether un- covered ; and it was over the very ground thus lying wide open before them that the Vkidiniir battalions stood impending. The Grenadiers were marching against the de- feated but now rallied Kazan column which had fought with the Eoyal Fusiliers, when Prince Gortschakoff rode down to the two left battalions of the Vladimir, and undertook to lead them for- ward in person. First sending his only unwounded aide-de-camp to press the advance of any troops he could find, the Prince put himself at the head of the two left Vladiuiir battalions, and ordered them to charge with the bayonet. The Prince then rode forward a good deal in advance of his troops, and his order for a bayonet-charge was so far obeyed, that the column, without firing a shot, moved boldly down towards the chasm which had been left in the centre of our brigade of Guards. The north- west angle of this strong and hitherto victorions column was coming down nearer and nearer to the file — the file composed of only two men — which formed the extreme left of the Grenadiers. Then, and by as fair a test as war could a])ply, there was going to be tried the str(ingth of the line-formation, the quality of the English officer, and the quality of the English soldier. Colonel Hood brought the line to a halt, and was about to execute the manoeuvre which will be presently mentioned, when his troops had to meet a new peril in the apparition of that unknown 'mounted